Women/Gender Studies present seminars

Dean Poling The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University’s Women’s and Gender Studies announces its 2010 Lecture Series for the fall semester.

— “Borders, Immigrants, and National Values: Shaping Immigration Policy to Benefit Everyone” 6 p.m., Sept. 13, VSU Student Union Theater. West Costgrove, Project Puente executive director, leads this presentation.

Costgrove is the founder of the El Paso, Texas-based organization that addresses the realities of “economic and political injustice arising from globalization,” according to VSU.

He has spent the past three decades promoting activism in Latin American society and politics.

“West’s lecture will focus on the phenomenon of immigration, particularly ‘illegal’ immigration,” according to Tracy W. Meyers of VSU Women’s and Gender Studies. “He will respond to such questions as, ‘Why do people come? Why don’t they come legally? Do they take jobs from U.S. citizens?’ He will also speak about why it is in everyone’s best interest that we enact comprehensive immigration reform as soon as possible.”

— “Human Trafficking: Modern Day Slavery,” 6:30 p.m., Oct. 11, VSU Student Union Theater. Nola Theiss, Human Trafficking Awareness Partnership executive director, leads this presentation.

Theiss is also the Partnership’s founder. She is the former mayor of Sanibel, Fla.

For more than six years, using her past experiences in various fields, Theiss has worked to raise public awareness and battle the issue of human trafficking, according to VSU.

“Nola’s lecture will focus on the current state of human trafficking globally and in the United States,” Meyers said. “She will discuss what is being done to fight human trafficking, and most importantly, what you can do to help.”

— “If I Should Die Before I Wake: Women Aging In Prison,” 6:30 p.m., Nov. 2, VSU Student Union Ballroom A. Author and activist Kathleen A. O’Shea leads this presentation.

A nun for 30 years and a Pulitzer Prize nominee, O’Shea is an independent social worker. She researches women prisoners, specifically women awaiting execution on death row. Ms. Magazine has called her “the leading authority on the subject of women on death row.”

These presentations are free and open to the public.